For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 17, 2026
Contact: media@communitychange.org
Community Change Announces Ryan Young as Managing Director
Community Change and Community Change Action are pleased to announce the appointment of Ryan Young as Managing Director, a role created to sharpen alignment, deepen operational strength, and accelerate movement-building impact.
Communities across the country are navigating extraordinary challenges while continuing to build power and shape our collective future. Meeting this moment–and building for the long term–requires strong leadership, effective infrastructure, and an organization equipped to convert momentum into action.
As Managing Director, Ryan will provide executive leadership across Community Change’s core bodies of work and campaigns, including health justice, universal childcare, and economic freedom. He will be responsible for aligning strategy, operations, and execution in service of the organization’s mission: building the power and capacity of low-income people, particularly people of color, to change the policies and institutions that impact their lives.
“Ryan has developed a rare and deep familiarity with our programmatic work, alongside the management and leadership experience to hold the institutional ecosystem as a whole. We are thrilled to have him step into this role at such a pivotal moment,” said Community Change Co-Presidents Lorella Praeli and Dorian Warren.
Ryan has been a part of Community Change’s evolution, and this appointment reflects a deliberate investment in the leadership and infrastructure needed to strengthen the organization for the years ahead. Ryan has played a key role in the organization’s sustainability and its continued role as an incubator of grassroots and policy organizations. In close partnership with the Co-Presidents, Ryan will have a dedicated focus on day-to-day management, ecosystem-wide coordination, and organizational resilience. In his new role, Ryan will focus on strengthening organizational effectiveness, supporting leadership across the ecosystem, and ensuring Community Change is built to meet this moment and the ones after it.
“I’ve had the chance to see this organization turn strategy into real power for communities across multiple chapters of its growth, and I’m honored to help steward that work forward,” said Ryan Young.
As Managing Director, Ryan rounds out Community Change’s executive leadership team alongside Desmond Serrette, Chief of Programs, and Anyssa Polanco, Chief of Organizational Development.
In addition to his role at Community Change, Ryan serves as Board Chair of the Washington, D.C. based Meyer Foundation.
Community Change is a national organization that builds the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to abolish poverty.
